修行
Motivation
On this site and in my writings about martial arts, I emphasize that my practice
of heihō (
I view my ongoing martial arts practice as a form of Shugendō (
Shugendō was widely practiced before the Meiji era when Shugendō organizations were forced to register as either Shinto, Tendai Buddhist or Shingon Buddhist. Today, organizations such as Tozan-ha and Honzan-ha Shugendō are independent and others such as Haguro Shugendō have been revived.
Much of my focus of my ongoing practice of kenpō lies in preserving Taoist methods of power development centered around the combative use of the sword that are not often found in contemporary Japanese martial arts. Because I practice Taoist martial arts from China, I have maybe at times more easily recognized these influences in older Japanese martial arts.
Visiting sacred places has been an important component of my martial arts training over the years. I grew up spending time in the mountains rock climbing and have a strong affinity for nature. It was while visiting the Dewa Sanzan area that I realized I needed to study classical and traditional arts instead of continuing to teach modern jujutsu. Much later, visiting shrines and temples in Nara and Kyoto, especially those associated to esoteric Buddhism and Shugendō, I realized that my path had narrowed exclusively to practicing internal martial arts.
I now view my continued shugyō as a form of internal practice (neidan):
lay the foundations (zhuji); refine essence into breath (lianjing huaqi); refine breath into spirit (lianqi huashen); refine spirit and return to emptiness (lianshen huanxu).
Lineage
Below is a summary chronology of my training:
- I am a lineal student of Chinese internal martial arts under Zhang Yun, who leads Yin Cheng Gong Fa North America. I began training in Yin Cheng Gong Fa in 2005 under Paul Cote, and began traveling to Pittsburgh to train under Zhang Yun in 2010. I became his formal lineal student in Princeton in 2015, with Paul Cote and Clayton Shiu as my sponsors.
- I studied Kashima-shinden Jikishinkage-ryū at the Hōbyōkan dōjō of Dr. David Hall, from 2008 to 2016, reaching the level of chuden. The Hōbyōkan is an unofficial line of Jikishinkage-ryū; my sponsor was Michael Heiler, who now practices Takamura-ha Shindō Yoshin-ryū.
- I trained with the Katori Shinto-ryū study group hosted at Capital Aikikai from 2005 to 2015, reaching the level of mokuroku. During that time, I benefited from the Aikidō experience of the senior instructors there.
- I began learning Gao Lineage Bagua from Bob Galeone in 2004, a senior Aikidō practitioner under Kanai and Saotome who later trained in Bagua with Allen Pitman and Paul Cote. I was introduced to Bob by Ellis Amdur. From 2008 to 2014 I taught what I knew of the art to Dr. Ben Lawner and we developed a refined goshin-jutsu practice informed by Bagua tactics and body mechanics.
- I began training in vinyasa yoga in Baltimore and developed pranayama and meditation practices; in 2007 after competing teacher training at Midtown Yoga under Kim Manfredi, I became a yoga instructor. In 2011, I attended the Kalachakra Empowerment for World Peace in Washington, DC. I have continued my study of Yoga, Taoism and Vajrayana since that time.
- I practiced and taught a form of goshin-jutsu that was primarily a mixture of Aikidō and Nippon Shorinji Kempō in NYC, from 1989 to 2001. In 2005, after visiting the Gassan Dai-jinja on Mt. Haguro and Haguro Shozen-in in Haguro-machi, I decided to focus my efforts on more traditional, especially internal, martial arts.